Not sure if this is the right place or not, ive got a 1995 Trans AM with a blown head gasket. Im looking to upgrade my cylinder heads, but canot find any place that sells them (can only find LS1). My question is: where or what websites do you guys go to for these? Is it better to buy them fully built or bare? I can do some repairs, just not indepth with these engines. thanks

 

http://elliottsportworks.com/

http://www.advancedinduction.com/LTX/AiLTxMain.php

 

Keep in mind that if you want to make it worthwhile you'll need all of the supporting mods to boot. Plan on several thousand dollars in supporting mods and tuning. Just putting on ported heads is not worth a whole lot. What else do you have done to the car, or is it stock?

 

Its stock

 

I would just do the head gaskets and have the stock heads skimmed, maybe .005", just enough to clean them up.

At this point it makes no sense to have the heads ported all things considered.

 

oh ok, was just looking to start upgrading, figured since i'd have the head off might as well start there.

 

The best place to start is intake and exhaust. $200 for a CAI, $400 for a full exhaust, $400 for headers. That's $1000 for a complete intake and exhaust which should net you ~30whp and will support eventual valvetrain mods. Start there.

And while the heads are off it's probably easier to do headers (if you're in "while I'm in there" mode).

 

Gotta crawl before u can walk, totally useless analogy in this case but ramair is totally right having largely ported heads w no way to get fuel and air in and no way to get it out makes no sense whatsoever. Heads are a little ways down on the lists bolt on mods.

 

well the car is not toattly stock, i know it has some bbk headers on it, and a cold air intake

 

I disagree with not doing heads. The first mods I did to my car were heads/rockers/intake and useless Edelbrock shorty headers with stock y-pipe with cats and it went from a 13.9 to 14.0 @ 100 to 101 to 13.2 at 106. No tune or larger injectors were necessary.
IMO you'll see a big difference with just heads and a CAI.

 

Correct. Since heads and intake are off, get a good h/c/i combo and a set of long tube headers, have it tuned and you're set for now. Add as you go from here. Suspension pieces, trans updated if needed, rear end, drag radials,etc,...then welcome to the never ending world of spending to go faster..

 

Don't do it half *** and have to do it twice. Wait till you can afford to do it right. Get rockers, heads cam, tune and stall if auto. A.I. and l.e. have nice kits and are proven

 

I say it depends on how much money you have to spend right now, like already stated the heads and intake are already off so I'd get them ported now and add a matching cam and buy some long tube headers and ypipe. Then later when you get more money add a good catback, roller rockers etc and you're on your way.

 

There is a lot of "it depends" that goes into things.

If you go with a nice heads/cam setup and jack the compression as you kind of should but then have crappy headers and exhaust you are bottling up all that heat that you need good exhaust to release.

Can we have a complete mod list for the car?
What is your budget?
How long can the car be down?
How quick do you want it to endup?
What sort of condition is the car in now?

 

If u have never done a head R&R before u will find a lot of details that not only make it troublesome but can ruin the entire engine. Only u will know if u have successfully adj the vlvs before but mistakes here can make a good engine eat itself.
My 2 cents is pull the heads and get a good 3 angle vlv job with good performance springs installed - minimum the LT4 vlv springs. Installing vlv springs with the heads off is vastly easier. Try 1.6 rockers arms here for 10 more ponies if u like. If u survive this operation then start planing for your performance upgrades.

Hope this helps ya,
cardo

 

All opinions are good, I would just have the heads rebuilt too though, unless you do actually spend the dough and get a h/c setup. You would be amazed how bad the stock valve job is. Even if you did not do a h/c package a good valve job, guide liners, resurface, bowl blend, and removing the giant ramp from the intake runner entrance would net you a good gain. That with bolt ons would be good to get your feet wet.

Just make sure if you get the heads rebuilt that they do liners and not a new guide, iv found on the lt1 head that gm used a guide that is very in-concentric. When you do a new guide your valve job is way off and you have to go alot further to clean the seat. I you do a liner your going off the original parent bore and the valve job is close like it should be.

 

This. I was beating bolt-on LT1's when I just had a cai/1.6 rockers and ported heads that I didn't know about at the time. If heads were useless LT4's wouldn't have any more power than LT1's.

 

www.summitracing.com

 

Thanks for all the advice and sites. This will be my first time so here goes.

 

You could be in for a world of hurt if you dont know or dont have someone who knows what they are doing. So many time we see people who start with heads cam and intake that get it all together and less then 2k miles later the thing has a rod hanging out of the block or other big problems.

Cleanliness is next to godliness. There is no room for dirt, Old rags, paper towel, tape, tools, or beer caps and cans inside your engine. Keep it super clean at ALL TIMES!!! Not just when your bolting the heads on.

Depending on what has been done to the heads check your pushrod length against the lifters you are going to use with the rockers you are going to use with the rocker studs you are going to use.

Make sure you ask what type of oil pump drive gear to use with the cam that is going in the car. Also invest in this. http://pro-jectioneng.com/ One of the members here makes these and it is insurance well worth the cost. Make a very close inspection of the drive unit to make sure it has no cracking.

Have the intake done with the heads so they can get the flanges to match up correct if they cut the heads can be a big PITA if they are off buy a little and the bolts bind in the holes.

Use only good quality parts. Cheap parts are just that. Not that people havent had problems with good parts, they have just had less problems. Use good gasket so you only have to do it once. Dont be talked into a cheap gasket and always inspect the gaskets to make sure they have no flaws from the manufacture.

Take your time. Rushing things is a sure fire way to end up with problems. Understand how it works by asking stupid questions that people are gonna give you flack over. Just remember it's your money on the line not theirs. I'm sure there is more that I have missed that hopefully someone will fill in.